Box Score BETHANY, Okla. (Dec. 8, 2015) – Oklahoma Christian's best shooting half of the basketball season came at the right time on Tuesday night against Southern Nazarene.
OC shot a sizzling 62.1 percent from the field in the second half, turning a seven-point halftime deficit into a runaway 91-76 win over its archrival at the Sawyer Center. It was OC's fourth straight win in the series that dates back to the formative days of both programs.
McKenzie Stanford scored 28 points – just two off her career high – on 10-of-19 shooting for OC (3-7), which won its first road game of the season in six tries. But she was far from the only star for the Lady Eagles.
Senior point guard
Sydney Hill had 14 points and a career-high nine assists to go with six rebounds. Another senior guard,
Daisha Gonzaque, also scored 14 points, just one off her career best. Inside players
Hannah Holasek and
Sarah Parker added 13 points each. OC's 5-foot-5 freshman guard,
Addy Clift, pulled down a team-high eight rebounds.
And while OC's pressure defense – so effective in the Lady Eagles' last three games – forced only 15 turnovers by SNU (2-4), it did significantly limit the Crimson Storm's offensive opportunities. After shooting 48.7 percent from the field in the first half and leading by as many as nine points, SNU shot just 35.3 percent in the second half.
SNU jumped to a quick 18-9 lead, but a 10-0 run by the Lady Eagles pulled them within 21-19 by the end of the first quarter. The Crimson Storm held the lead in the second quarter and was up 46-39 at halftime. When Chelseah Savage hit two free throws with 5:40 left in the third quarter, SNU led 57-48.
OC roared back with a 21-2 run. A put-back by Gonzaque gave the Lady Eagles a 59-57 lead at the 2:22 mark of the third quarter, and her 19-foot jumper a minute later put OC ahead for good at 61-59. Holasek buried her first career 3-pointer in the closing seconds of the quarter to make it 65-59.
Baskets by Parker and Hill to open the fourth quarter prompted SNU coach Derek Dorris to call timeout, but OC continued to roll and built its lead to as many as 20 points in the final minutes.
For the game, OC shot 50.8 percent (33 of 65) – a higher percentage than in the Lady Eagles' record-setting 123-76 win a week earlier over St. Gregory's.
Rachel Doerneman led SNU with 20 points, while Danielle Gaddis had 17 points, six assists and six rebounds. SNU's leading scorer, Abby Boyd, added 14 points, but went 5-of-14 from the field as she was hounded defensively by OC guard
Kylee Hicks, particularly in the second half.
OC will be off until Dec. 19, when it will open Heartland Conference play at St. Edward's in Austin, Texas.
